duce it in the higher altitudes of the Shiré distnc .
When I was at Blantyre the tree was newly discovered,
and had not yet been put to practical use, but since then
this wood has been largely used both for building and for
the manufacture of furniture. Several varieties of pa m
are found fairly plentifully and used freely for constructing
stakes, piles, and the like, being impervious both to the
white ant and to rot through the action of water
oil palm and the cocoanut palm are also found and could
probably be largely spread. Then there is the bamboo,
of whose thousand uses there is no need for me to speak.
Until the advent of the European the African in -this part
of the world made singularly little use of it. Here, a
any rate, is one point in which he has much to learn from
his whi4 master and his yeilow elder brother. Reeds
and rushes—a heartbreaking nuisance to the travelle
can be made exceedingly useful for thatching an
” B u i f t e great triumph of Central Africa has been in
coffee, and there seems no reason why it shoukl n
become one of the most prosperous centres for this production
in the whole world. It was introduced, like many
h °plan.s, in consequence of the intelligent enterprise
of the late Mr. John Buchanan. This H |
came out as a horticulturist m the service of the Church
of Scotland Mission. He got coffee plants from the
Edinburgh Botanical Gardens and planted them in the
mission grounds at Blantyre. They flourished so well
i l g r e a t e r n um b e r o f p la n t s in th e^ S h ir é d a t r i c t h ad
n o t in 18 9 2 y e t com e in to b e a r in g ; b u t s in c e th a t tu n
th e to ta l e x p o r t h a s g r a d u a l ly risen to 3 50 tons, and
•11 n ro b a b lv rise V e ry m u ch h ig h e r in th e fu tu re.
t h a d t h e o p p o r tu n ity , ^ i ^ u , , o f s e e in g h ow a
timber and uprooting the bush,
which is then burnt according to the native method, the
ashes being mixed with the soil. The ground is then
cleared of grass by hoeing, and laid out in rows six
or seven feet apart; at similar intervals along the rows
pits are dug some 18 inches deep. This takes place in
June, and the pits are left open until September. Meanwhile
the planter is rearing his seedlings, which he plants
out at the beginning of the rains late in November.
About 60 or 70 acres can
be opened up in a year if
100 men are employed.
The coffee begins to bear
in three years, being
ready for picking about
the end of June. It is
then passed through a
pulper, which separates
the bean from the fleshy
fruit which covers it. The
beans are then fermented
in a brick vat for over
twenty - four hours, then
passed into a second vat,
washed, and dried. The Iffls
yield per acre is on the
average about 3 cwt. In a n g o n i a t c h i r a d z u l u .
some cases as much as
17 cwt. per acre has been turned out, but this is of
course very exceptional. The coffee fetches a good price
in the London markets : it averaged about io^d. per lb.
a few years ago, and the price has improved since.
The immediate prosperity of Nyasaland must rest upon
its agriculture, especially upon its coffee plantations, and
perhaps, after that, upon the cultivation of the sugar cane.
This latter cultivation was in its infancy in my time, but
I believe it has made great strides since. Yet although
it is to agriculture that most attention has been given, it
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